With deference to NBC's Thursday-night comedies (and I fully embrace Community, The Office, Parks and Recreation, and 30 Rock), must-see TV these days is not on Thursdays but on Sundays, and not on NBC but on HBO (Game of Thrones) and AMC (The Killing). The latter I will save for a rainy day, but here forthwith are five reasons why I am completely hooked on Game of Thrones:

1) Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey): "Ha ha woman, what you gonna do/You destroyed all the virtues that the Lord gave you." Our wicked queen's list of transgressions grows weekly, and includes accessory to the attempted murder of young Bran Stark, who caught her and her twin brother Jaime fornicating. And let's not forget poor Lady Sansa Stark's regal direwolf, whose execution Cersei commands after her punk son Joffrey is  justly attacked by a hound—even though Lady wasn't even the culprit. Now, in cahoots with the scheming Littlefinger, she usurps the throne in Joffrey's name. Oh, evil woman! This is all fascinating and certainly enhances Cersei's general awesomeness, but what I really care about is that she is portrayed by Lena Headey, once Sarah Connor of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, whose premature demise I will eternally lament. I used to think Headey's Connor was perpetually weary because she was forever being chased by cyborgs and holding off Armageddon, yet Cersei exhibits this same trait, which I find oddly ... appealing.  

2) Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage): My friends/colleagues persist in distrusting the sardonic imp—he is, after all, a Lannister—yet I remain convinced that Tyrion is a dwarf of moral fortitude and, certainly, commendable empathy, especially in a series where chopping a man's head off yourself—rather than delegating the task to subordinates—qualifies as noble behavior. Particularly delightful are Tyrion's scenes with Jon Snow, Ned Stark's bastard son, inspiring such droll gems as "Generations of capering fools in motley have won me the right to dress badly and say any damn thing that comes into my head." Though repulsive to his sister and father, Tyrion seems to share a deep and affectionate bond with brother Jaime, who is in almost every other way a monstrous character. Further, that Tyrion was framed for the attempted murder of Bran Stark, and then kidnapped by Bran's ice-blooded mother Catelyn, is, as far as I'm concerned, a badge of honor worth burnishing. At last glance, Tyrian was the top vote-getter in HBO's online poll of favorite Game of Thrones characters. 

3) Arya Stark (Maisie Williams): Young Arya, yet another of the Stark offspring, is an irrepressible tomboy who refuses to be tamed by anyone or anything, which, though certainly endearing, is not unproblematic. Hence, her most unfortunate encounter with the callow Prince Joffrey, which precipitated the aforementioned slaying of the direwolf Lady (it is, in fact, Arya's she-wolf Nymeria that mauls the prince, but only to protect her mistress).  Arya is preternaturally wise in judging character; hence her immediate distaste for both Joffrey and the queen. A proto-feminist—"The woman is important too!" she scolds her half-brother (and best friend) Jon Snow—she has no use for "womanly" pursuits like needlepoint, but dreams of becoming a master swordsman, and her "dancing master"—who instructs her in the art of sword play—refers to her repeatedly as a boy. Come to think of it, she reminds me of Luke Skywalker.

4) White Walkers: To date we viewers know very little about this supercool race of boogeymen, reportedly unseen for 8,000 years, and many within the kingdoms now believe they either never existed or have become extinct. Yeah, right. In the opening sequence of the premiere episode, a posse of these fierce blue-eyed monsters, having already massacred a tribe of humans and left their corpses behind as calling cards, executes two members of the Night's Watch, a fraternity of men sworn to protect the Seven Kingdoms from whatever evil lurks beyond the Wall. Interestingly, the White Walkers are known more commonly as the Others in the George R.R. Martin books upon which the series is based; any fan of Lost will understand the change.

5) Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark 
(Sean Bean): Boromir on a TV series? What could be wrong with that?